Holding Back is a Challenge
by PrincessSara1998
Summary: Short story about Lumpy trying not to sneeze while Cuddles tickles his nose.


Lumpy could feel his nose twitching and nostrils flaring up. He sniffled a few times, trying to calm his itchy nose, but it didn't do anything to help. He was going to sneeze.

"Ah... Aaaaaaah..." Lumpy inhaled twice as he tilted his neck backwards. His nose and nostrils continued to twitch and flare as they prepared to release the sneeze. "AaaaaaaaAAAAAHHHH..."

Cuddles and Toothy, who were sitting next to Lumpy at the time, heard his pre-sneeze inhales and looked over at him. At almost that exact moment, Lumpy tilted his neck as far back as he could, giving a final inhale as his nostrils flared to several times their normal size.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released the sneeze, and a large amount of spray fired out of his mouth and nostrils. Just hearing the sneeze caused Cuddles and Toothy to cringe. A few seconds later, Lumpy recovered, sniffled and rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

"Wow. Bless you, Lumpy," Toothy said.

"Thanks," Lumpy responded as he continued to rub his nose. "Sorry about that, though."

"Yeah, it sounded pretty nasty," Cuddles commented. "You could have at least tried to hold it back."

"Hold it back?" Lumpy sniffled, and finally removed his forefinger from his nose. "I would have, but I'm not too good at trying to stop my sneezes."

"What?!" Cuddles sounded almost shocked. "You've got to be kidding me, Lumpy!"

"I don't think he is, Cuddles," Toothy said. "Besides, trying not to sneeze is a lot harder than it sounds. And it's not good for you, either."

"Oh, really?" Cuddles asked, sounding suspicious.

"Aaaah..." Lumpy's breath hitched again as he tilted his neck back. This time, he brought his hand up to his open mouth. "Aaaaaaahhh... I think I'm gonna... Aaaaaaaahhhhhh... sneeze again..."

While watching Lumpy prepare to release another sneeze, Cuddles got an idea. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a single feather, reached up to Lumpy's face and wiggled the feather on the side of Lumpy's nose, tickling it.

Toothy gasped in fear. "No, Cuddles! Don't do that!"

He was too late, however. The tickles from the soft feather was just too much for Lumpy's sensitive nose to handle, and did nothing but make him sneeze. As Cuddles removed the feather from the moose's nose, Lumpy tilted his neck back and exploded with an even larger sneeze than the one before it. He tried to put his hand over his mouth, but the sneeze blew it out of his face.

"AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy shot his neck forwards again, and this time, his nose began to feel a little runny after the sneeze. The moment he had finished sneezing, Lumpy began to rub his nose on his forefinger again, sniffling several times as he did. He looked a little dismayed at Cuddles for making him sneeze, and Toothy felt much the same way. Cuddles, however, was just amused at Lumpy's sneeze.

"Cuddles! Why'd you do that?" Toothy asked in anger.

"I just wanted to help him sneeze," Cuddles said.

"Then why didn't you just ask if you could do that?" Lumpy sniffled again, continuing to rub his nose.

"Well, sorry, Lumpy," Cuddles apologized, although it didn't really sound like he meant it. "Ha, you're just no match for a sneeze, are you?"

"I guess I'm not..." Lumpy sighed.

After a few seconds, an idea came to Cuddles, and he smiled mischievously at Lumpy. Lumpy could tell that he was up to something.

"Hey, Lumpy, you wanna play a game I just came up with?"

"Um, sure. What's it called?" Lumpy didn't know what was going on, but he tried not to worry too much.

"It's called the Holdback Challenge," Cuddles said.

Lumpy's eyes widened from just hearing the title. He knew exactly what he was talking about: holding back sneezes. Lumpy didn't know what to say; he really didn't think that playing this "game" was a good idea, but he didn't want to admit it, and he couldn't come up with any excuses not to play it.

"Um, how do you play it?" Lumpy asked, fearing the worst.

"It's easy. I try to get you to sneeze, and you have to try not to sneeze," Cuddles explained. "I'll use whatever I remember can make you sneeze, but this time, I'll just tickle your nose with a feather. And if you manage to stop the sneeze without releasing it, you win. But if you sneeze even once, then I win."

Lumpy didn't like where this was going. His nose was really sensitive and ticklish, and he had outright admitted that he wasn't good at holding back a sneeze, no matter how small.

"So, you gonna play it?" Cuddles asked. "Or are you too weak?"

"Oh, God. If I say yes, I'll lose for sure," Lumpy thought. "But if I say no, he'll just make fun of me. I guess there's only one thing to do..."

After a long time, Lumpy finally nodded in acceptance.

"Yes, I'll go for it," he said as he nodded. "But whatever you do, please be careful. You know how easy it is to make me sneeze..."

"Okay, then!"

Cuddles smiled evilly and raised the feather so that Lumpy could see it. Lumpy was clearly looking nervous, but he couldn't turn back now. He had to at least try not to sneeze, even if he was really bad at it. Cuddles raised the feather to the base of Lumpy's nose and began to stroke it around.

At first, Lumpy's reaction was a fit of adorable giggles from the tickling sensation. "Hee hee, hehehehehehehe! That tickles! Hehehehehehehehehe!"

"It does?" Cuddles said, continuing to tickle Lumpy's nose and teasing him. "Good, because it's about to tickle a whole lot more."

Lumpy continued to giggle for a few seconds, rather than feeling any urge to sneeze. His nose was pretty ticklish, but not in the sneeze-related way. After a few seconds of tickling had gone by, Cuddles decided to move the feather closer to the end of his nose to see if that would be enough to make Lumpy sneeze.

Unfortunately for Cuddles, Lumpy's reaction didn't change, aside from more giggles. His nose twitched slightly, but other than that, there was no way to tell if a sneeze was on the way.

"Heheheheheheheheheee!"

"Jeez, how long is this going to take?" Cuddles asked himself.

Having gotten bored of tickling the outside of Lumpy's nose, Cuddles slipped the feather right into Lumpy's nostril. In response, Lumpy's eyes widened, and his pupils shrunk until they could barely be seen. He could feel an intense chill run down his spine. His snout began to twitch, and his nostrils began to flare up, but the nostril that the feather was inside of flared up even more. He needed to sneeze.

"Ah..." Lumpy took one inhale, and then raised his hand and placed his forefinger under his flaring nostrils, trying to stop the sneeze. "Aaaah..."

Cuddles smiled evilly and kept the feather in Lumpy's nostril, only now, he began to wiggle the feather around slowly. He teased him again, using some self-proclaimed 'tickle-talk' as he did. "Goochie goochie..."

Lumpy cringed internally as he felt the soft bristles from the feather stroking the walls of his nasal passages. It really tickled, a lot, and he outright knew that it was going to make him sneeze. But there was no way he was going to let himself sneeze... right?

"Aaaaaaah..." Lumpy inhaled again as he kept his forefinger under his ticklish nose. Even if he pressed his finger as hard under his nostrils as he could, he could still feel the sneeze building, slowly but surely. It was almost calling out for him, too. "Aaaaaaaaahh..."

"What's the matter, Lumpy? Need to sneeze?" Cuddles asked, taunting him as he continued to tickle his nostril.

"Aaaaaaaahhhh... Y... yes..." Lumpy managed to say, despite that he could feel the sneeze growing bigger. His finger remained under his reddening nose as he tried desperately not to sneeze. If he sneezed even once, he would lose the game.

"Cuddles, maybe you should just let him sneeze..." Toothy suggested, concerned for Lumpy.

"No way!" Cuddles said. "I've got some unfinished business to do. But he is gonna sneeze, and I'm gonna make him so that I win!"

"C-Cuddles... AaaaaaaaaaAAH..." Lumpy was starting to lose control of his sneeze. "I, I... I... r-reallyyYYYY..." He sounded almost shocked, but he couldn't help it, since he had to say it through a hitched gasp. "...n-neeeeeed to... sn... sneeeeEEEEEZE...!"

"What's that? You wanna lose the Holdback Challenge?" Cuddles responded, still tickling Lumpy's poor, tickly nose.

"I... don't care about... AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAH... it... ANYMORE..." Lumpy said, breathily. "Just... st... stop... pleeeeEEEEEASE...! AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH...!"

With that, Lumpy removed his forefinger from his nose and began to fan it in front of his face. His nose had turned red and was twitching madly as his nostrils flared up to more than twice their normal size. It had now become clear that he simply couldn't hold back his sneeze anymore. Cuddles looked on in amusement at first, but then he realized what was going to happen and pulled the feather right out of Lumpy's nose. While all of this was happening, Toothy was watching, completely concerned and holding his hands over his ears. He had the strangest feeling that this sneeze was going to be a big one.

"AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy tilted his neck far back, bracing himself for the tremendous sneeze that was about to come forth. He hastily turned his head away from Cuddles and Toothy, shortly before...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

An immeasurable amount of mucus and saliva came spraying out from Lumpy's nose and mouth as he shot his head and neck forwards with the sneeze. He could feel the floor beneath him and his friends shaking for a few seconds, but he was too preoccupied on his sneeze to truly notice it. The sneeze was simply unbelievable, even for Lumpy. Cuddles and Toothy both cringed in shock and fear as they heard the sneeze.

A few seconds later, however, Lumpy recovered from the sneeze and opened his eyes, tilting his head and neck back to their normal positions. His nose was still a bright red and his nostrils were pouring with mucus. He immediately rubbed his nose on his forefinger repeatedly as he sniffled wetly. Cuddles and Toothy sat where they were, utterly shocked.

"Oh, my gosh! Bless you, Lumpy!" Toothy said.

"Holy..." Cuddles didn't bring himself to finish that exclamation. "I gotta say, that was a pretty dang incredible sneeze. I usually don't say this, but... Bless you, Lumpy."

Lumpy continued to rub his nose on his forefinger, but not without responding to the blessings. "Thank you," he simply said.

"Sorry about that, Lumpy," Cuddles apologized, being sincere this time. "I guess you can't hold back a sneeze, can you?"

"No, I can't. I just... can't." Lumpy sniffled again, still rubbing his nose. Once he had started, he wouldn't stop for a while. "Ugh. Now I don't feel so good..."

"I could tell you don't," Toothy said. He reached over to the tissue box, pulled out a few tissues and offered them to Lumpy. "Here you go."

Lumpy took the tissues, held them over his nose and blew his nose loudly. His nose continued to run, though, so he wiped his nostrils on the tissues as he thanked them again.

"Ugh, thank you."

"Are you gonna be okay?" Toothy asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Lumpy reassured him. "If I sneeze too much or too hard, my nose gets all runny and I start to feel sick. Kind of like a cold." He sniffled again, still wiping his nose. "But it'll go away after a while."

"Oh, that's good." Toothy sighed in relief.

"Well, Cuddles, looks like you won the Holdback Challenge, whatever it is," Lumpy said. "Are you proud of yourself?"

"Yeah, I am, but I kinda feel bad for you," Cuddles admitted. "Because boy, let me tell you, that sneeze was..." He paused for a bit, struggling not to laugh at what he was about to say. "...something to sneeze at!"

Toothy and Lumpy looked at him with annoyed-looking expressions. Cuddles was aware that they wouldn't find his little joke funny, even though he did, so he just stopped talking.


End file.
